


Founder Effect

by princespeach



Category: Tales of Symphonia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-10-17
Updated: 2009-10-17
Packaged: 2017-10-11 16:32:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/114405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/princespeach/pseuds/princespeach
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Long has it been humanity's dream to colonize the moon. But never once has it been in the dreams of Lloyd Aurion. That is, until a certain red head comes into the picture, then everything changes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Founder Effect

There were a lot of different reasons why they were doing this. Many factors had contributed to this having to happen, but no amount of rational thinking could spare Lloyd his irrational anger at nearly everything around him – namely his father, who was sulking in front of him and carrying both their bags. He wasn't saying anything, and neither was Lloyd. Lloyd's marathon of silent treatment had finally taken its toll on their father-son relationship, the state of which being one of the many reasons why they were here.

  


'Here' was an uncomfortably small corridor; the ceiling just a little too low for comfort, the walls unnaturally curved. It was the tube connecting the transport ship to the station, and he and his father were currently members of the slow procession of people marching along like penguins. As they continued forward, the low hum of the engine grew louder despite Lloyd's attempts to drown it out by blasting music into his ears. Before they could pass into the actual ship there was another scan point; the fifth one if his counting was correct. He and his father passed through without any problems, as they had with the other four.

  


Due to the deafening music sounding from his headphones, Lloyd had no warning when an eerily cheerful flight attendant shoved her face in front of his, pointing the correct path down the one way corridor. She didn't even seem to notice when Lloyd gave her the classic 'annoyed teenager' look, and he wondered idly if she was real at all, or just a hologram or lifelike android.

  


Moments later they passed into what he assumed to be the belly of the ship. It was a huge rounded area that went along with the style of the space station they'd just left; everything was coloured in bright whites and neon blues. The whole place made Lloyd's eyes hurt. Looking up, he could see the other levels - at least six of them, each one narrower than the first. They were on the first floor, the main deck and clearly the most spacious. It contained multiple seating areas, enough for all of the passengers to lounge comfortably with each other, but it had limited windows along the walls. This was disappointing, since about the only thing Lloyd had been looking forward to was the view. Now that he was here, though, he couldn't help but get excited. Screens were popping up ahead of them showing smiling young flight attendants with flawless teeth.

  


"Hello! Welcome aboard the TC12_Horizon_..." They repeated to each and every passing family. The greeting was continuously followed by an overview of the ship's facilities, and then by the government message that had followed them in from the terminal, wishing them the best of luck in their new life as lunar colonists. To these Lloyd narrowed his eyes, turned the volume up on his headphones, and stormed on.

  


They came to the nearest transporter and stepped in, his father pressing the button for the appropriate floor. Following a brief whirring sound and the sensation of Lloyd's stomach rising into his chest, the door hissed open and they stepped out into a hallway; this one narrower, and filled with doorways on either side. They walked out to the end of the hall, until they were back in the circular part of the ship, where the main deck was; though after looking down, Lloyd guessed them to be at least four levels up. They continued along this circle at a slower pace, Kratos checking the numbers on the doors now, until they came to an E69 nearly halfway around the circle. They stopped here, and Kratos put down their suitcases to reach for their tickets.

  


"Here we are," he said as he passed them through the scanner, the door swooshing open instantly and a lifeless "Welcome," sounding from some hidden speakers. Lloyd followed his father inside mechanically, though he couldn't deny his excitement to get inside.

  


It wasn't much, but it looked expensive. One room contained a fairly lavish sitting area, a wall-sized holo-projecter, and a smallish replicator for food and drink. The room looked big enough for an entire family, one much bigger than just the two of them.

  


"How long till we get there?" He asked, knowing that he had already asked the question repeatedly since they'd arrived at the station.

  


Kratos looked at him reassuringly. "Two hours. Less, if we make good time."

  


Lloyd didn't want to think about the extra cost it must have taken to get them this little room for nothing more than a two-hour flight. But then again, Kratos was always like that; he would've wanted his own little space in such a big ship, and as usual, he didn't skimp. "That quick, huh?" Lloyd asked, moving to sit on the arm of one of the couches and then sliding backwards after a moment to lay down.

  


He heard his father approach him. "Lloyd... I know you don't really want to be here. You probably hate me right now-"

  


"I don't hate you, Dad."

"So this being the most we've spoken in the past week is some new form of father-son bonding?"

Lloyd raised his head to look him in the eye. "I don't hate you, Dad," he repeated. "But I'm still angry."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

"It's my fault. I'm the one who-"

"We both needed to get out of there, Dad. You were just the one who finally said it."

There was silence for a minute, and Lloyd stared vacantly at the ceiling until he felt his father sit down beside him. "It might not be so bad on the moon."

Lloyd laughed. "Nah. Who really liked green anyway? Running around outside in the fresh air is totally overrated."

Kratos breathed heavily, and Lloyd could practically_hear_the palm going to the forehead. "You don't have to be quite so negative about it."

This coming from his father was another laughable point. "Why? Is there a positive side?"

"A moment ago I swore we weren't fighting..."

"I said we needed to get away. Leaving the_planet_was you taking things too far. Literally."

"It was the best choice. The company's been trying to get me up there for years and you know how much better the schools are."

And with that Lloyd bounded from the couch, dropping his backpack on his way to the door. "Yes, Dad, because a better school system was top on my list of priorities."

Kratos stood, watching him as he moved. "Where are you going?"

"Out. Exploring, I guess," he answered plainly. "Why? Worried I'll go somewhere?"

The door slid closed behind him with a click, and he swore to himself. He shouldn't have said that, shouldn't have just left. He just... needed to get out of there. He knew that it wasn't his dad's fault. None of this was. Kratos wasn't the one that killed Mom, and they were both guilty of being incapable of moving on. One year later and they were still just drones, barely living in that oversized house, filled with nothing but thoughts of the dead. They had to leave. And so they did. Or were, to_Apollonius_,_city of the moon_, the capital city that joined all the other, smaller lunar colonies together to form _The First_, which was the name given to the first five permanent colonies on the near side of the moon. It was mostly a port (the biggest and busiest one on the moon), but was soon going to be the Aurions' new home.

Lloyd frowned deeply at the thought. Normally he supposed he might've been excited about actually living on the moon, but there were just too many things he missed already. His friends, his school, his town... Even his house. They were leaving all those things, everything that they'd had together as a family with his mom. The aching feeling in his heart told him that that was the main concern here, that they were leaving her behind, in that little cemetery back on Earth.

He needed to escape his father and his thoughts, and so he made his way through the ship. They seemed to have been some of the first on the ship, because looking down Lloyd saw that they were still loading passengers. He headed to the transporter (since there were no stairs) and looked at his options. Main deck, Shopping, Food, Recreation, Resting Quarters E &amp; F, or_Observation Deck._A smile crossed his face as he tapped on the last option, eternally thankful that it was there. The door swished open in a second, and Lloyd stepped out, ignoring the computerized voice telling him to enjoy his stay.

The Observation Deck turned out to be pretty self-explanatory. The transporter opened up to a circular room with a large image of the moon printed on the floor and a door with 'OBSERVATION DECK' written on it in very cool, spacey, new-age kind of lettering. To this door he was bound, and it led him into another room, sort of tubular in shape, and Lloyd suspected that it wrapped around the entire ship. It was certainly one of the biggest rooms he'd seen even just in height. It was lit only dimly with fixtures on the wall nearest Lloyd, and it was the only room Lloyd had seen that wasn't entirely white in colour. Instead, it was a mixture of black with some very dark greys here and there. It was filled with as many seating arrangements as the main deck, all of them turned to face the outer wall - which, along with the ceiling, was entirely clear. Or so Lloyd guessed. Right now, it was covered by a slate grey screen.

Lloyd moved slowly through the tangle of seating to the front of the window, and stood there for a moment, so completely wrapped up in his own thoughts that he had no idea when someone else entered the otherwise empty room.

"You know, the view doesn't actually start until we break atmo."

After jumping violently in surprise, Lloyd turned to identify the intruder. He was standing about halfway between Lloyd and the door, his gaze switching lightly between the brunet and the window. He approached with his hands deep in his pockets, allowing for a carefree but graceful stride. Dressed in baggy white pants and a pink jacket, he left his long locks of red hair flow freely down his back, swaying from side to side as he moved.

His first impression of the stranger after his initial surprise was that he was exceptionally good-looking. Lloyd of course had no idea that as he stood, mouth slightly agape, the very same thoughts were going through the other's mind.

"I know," Lloyd answered after a moment. "I just wanted to be here when we take off."

The redhead nodded, standing next to him now. "Ah. Troublemaker, eh?"

"What?" Lloyd asked, confused.

He jerked one pale thumb backward at the door. "Observation Decks closed till after take off. No one's supposed to be in here."

Panic flashed across the brunet's face as he wrapped his head around this new knowledge. "W-what? I didn't know that!"

"Didn't the transporter tell you?"

"..." Lloyd thought about it, and in all honestly, it was very likely that the computerized voice said something to that effect. "Maybe?" He admitted. The other just laughed, muttering something about clueless country folk. Lloyd frowned at the man laughing beside him, completely at ease and in his element. "Hey, if no one's supposed to be in here then why are you?"

The other man smiled wryly. "Same reason you are," he answered with a head jerk to the screen in front. "The view."

Lloyd said nothing and the man continued by holding out his hand. "I'm Zelos," he offered.

Accepting the hand, Lloyd shook it firmly. "Lloyd," he answered, smiling a little.

Zelos nodded and again and walked off to a strip of metal connecting two parts of the screen. "So, Lloyd," he said as his fingers flew across the surface, pressing buttons Lloyd hadn't even noticed were there. "Wanna see the lift off?"

As he spoke the grey screen over the window vanished, sliding into the metal strips rectangle by rectangle, and revealing to Lloyd a view of the space station he'd never seen before. They were surrounded by mini transport vehicles, and thousands of little ant-like people, all of whom were running away from the ship as he watched. The low hum of the ships engine, which had before faded away this high in the ship, now returned full force, blocking out most other sounds and rumbling the floor and the walls.

Lloyd took a cautionary step backward as Zelos returned to him, laughing again at the teen's antics.

"This your first time on a transport ship?" He asked, Lloyd gave a nervous sidelong glance and Zelos whistled. "First time on a_space ship_... That's pretty rough, Bud."

"Is it supposed to be_shaking_like this?" Lloyd asked as the floor gave a sudden lurch forward, knocking him off balance.

Zelos, who was annoying unaffected by all the unnatural movement, came next to him and slapped him on the back - doing nothing to help with his current inability to stay upright. "Don't worry, little country bumpkin, you'll be fine. Everyone gets a little scared first time around. Consider yourself lucky to have me here with you."

"And you," Lloyd said, narrowing his eyes at the nickname. "How many times have you done this?"

The redhead seemed surprised at the question. "Me?" He asked, thinking for a moment. "Hmm... Not sure. I usually do this a couple times a year, sometimes more."

"Do you live on Earth or-" Lloyd's question was caught short as another jerk nearly sent him flying.

Zelos, still entirely at ease, waved his hand passively. "Nah, pure-bred Luney. I just keep a house down there. You'd like it; it's nice and big... Great view."

He sniggered then as Lloyd fell onto the nearest couch, despite his attempts to stay vertical. It was then that the shaking intensified, still somehow with no ill effects on the redhead's remarkable grace of movement, and Lloyd heard from inside the ship the sounds of a countdown. As it neared the climax he was tempted to close his eyes, or better yet assume the fetal position, but he was determined to not appear to be as much of a ‘country bumpkin’, and so he just sat – fingers in a death grip around the edge of the bolted-to-the-floor couch – and waited for the inevitable.

The couple seconds of delay between the 'blast off' and the actual blast off had never seemed as long as they actually turned out to be. But when it finally did happen, even Zelos reached out one hand from his pockets to hold onto the arm of the couch. Not quite the death grip that Lloyd had, but it still gave him some comfort knowing that even the redhead needed something to hold onto.

The initial blast off was basically just a short increase in the intensity of the shaking, but for Lloyd and Zelos, it was much more. Through the windows they could see the entire thing as it was happening; the insane amount of smoke, and even the fires of the engine. And then as they took to the sky and lifted above the smoke, they could see the labyrinth of roads that mixed in with the countryside surrounding the space station. When that was gone, they could see the clouds as they passed though them, and then... it came time for them to break through the atmosphere.

This meant fire (or what looked like it), and lots of it as the entire body of the ship heated up to temperatures beyond measure and the shaking nearly stopped as it was replaced by sharp jolts here and there. This continued for maybe a minute before with what Lloyd swore was an audible crack, they broke atmo, and then there were stars.

"Whoa..." Lloyd commented, mouth open, as he saw what he had seen many times before, but never in quite such close proximity. His field of view was entirely covered by stars, space, and the surprising amount of beauty and serenity that is to be found in a complete nothingness. The moon was there too, of course, but it was a small point on a very,_very_large viewpoint. Still keeping that awestruck expression, he slid down to the floor, his back leaning against the seating behind him.

"Not bad, eh?" The other commented, seeming rather pleased with himself as he took a seat next to the teen. "Nothin' like it in the world. Literally."

Lloyd tore his eyes away from the view to stare at him. "You really like living on the moon, don't you?"

"No place I'd rather be," he answered, smiling contently. "The way I see it, Earth's the old, parental figure. And the people there, all they do is fight and end up living an entirely miserable existence. But the moon is Earth's kid. It hasn't forgotten how to have fun yet. I mean, think about it, the people who live in the colonies are there because they_want_to be; because they're_happy_there." He turned back to look pointedly at Lloyd. "Well, most of them anyway."

The brunet frowned. "How did you-"

"Please. You scream new colonist. And you're not exactly keeping your dislike of my home very secret either," he said, pointedly once again, making Lloyd squirm a little.

He solved this of course by changing the subject to a more harmless topic. "So... what do you do, anyway?"

To this he gave a small chuckle and put his arms behind his head. "Absolutely nothing." Then, seeing the exceedingly confused look on the other's face, "Large inheritance. And you?"

The exceedingly confused look remained. "Uh, school? I'm seventeen..."

The redhead just looked at him for a minute. "Your dad's not the nicest guy, is he?"

"You read people too much."

He smiled. "Helps when they wanna be read. Is that why you're here? To escape him?"

"Not him. Just... everything."

"Something else we have in common."

They dropped into silence for a moment, but it was oddly comfortable. The combination of Zelos and the stars seemed to erase the worries from Lloyd's mind. He was in a sort of trance when Zelos next spoke.

"So where are you headed anyway?"

Lloyd turned again to look at him. "Apollonius?"

"Really?"

"Yeah?"

"All right!" He exclaimed, smiling brightly and throwing an arm over Lloyd's shoulders to pull him closer. "Things are looking up! Apollonius is my town, Bud!"

So that was one new benefit of the moon; it was small enough that he'd made a friend before he even got there.

"Seriously?" He asked, smiling too. "That's so cool."

"Mhm. And see? Now you've got nothing to worry about," he continued. "As soon as we land I'm gonna show you the entire city. I guarantee you'll love it, at least the way I show it."

Something about that sentence seemed odd to Lloyd, and he tried to tell himself that he was the only one interpreting it weirdly.

"Sounds great," Lloyd answered. "But you have to promise me that next time we're back on Earth, you let me show it to you as well."

He seemed to hesitate for a moment, but then he just smiled again and gave Lloyd a quick rub on the head as he stood up. "It's a deal, then."

Lloyd, after frowning in annoyance and standing too, was about to make a comment to the redhead when he noticed the other's face in complete concentration on something high above them. Lloyd tried to follow his gaze, but saw nothing but stars.

"What is it?" He asked. Zelos pointed.

"That," he told him with a new serious tone to his voice. "Trouble."

After that Lloyd tried once more in vain to see what he was pointing at, but still saw nothing but the black.

... Until it moved.

Turns out it was a crack, which are generally never a very good thing to have, but this fact is even more relevant on a space ship. As the two watched, the crack grew in size, slowly at first, but it was quickly gaining size. Hard as it was to see in the darkness, both had very little doubt of its size, though only one of the two knew what this really meant.

"Lloyd," Zelos said, speaking in undertone as though he were afraid someone would hear. "Run for the door."

Both men moved as quick as they could in a mad dash to the exit, but at that moment a crinkling sound over head was the immediate prelude to an orchestra of alarms and flashing red lights going off on all parts of the inner wall. The words 'WARNING, HULL BREACH IN OBSERVATION DECK' were cycling their way across the wall, and were being repeated in vocal form through the speakers. The worst of the effects of the alarm, however, were the large blast doors that came down from the ceiling and put an end to their only hope of escape.

When they did reach the doors, Zelos was first to act, since he was the only one who really knew what to do. His hands went immediately over the nearest control panel, his flying fingers this time met by more red lights and less than hopeful-sounding beeps. Whatever he was trying to do (and Lloyd assumed it was get the doors back open), the system wasn't going to let it happen.

"What's happening? Why won’t it open?" Lloyd shouted as he twitched behind Zelos, his head spinning back and forth from Zelos to that ever-growing crack in the glass.

"It won't let me open it," Zelos explained in a strained voice.

"Why not?"

"Because the observation deck is currently closed to visitors, and there's no possible way that anyone could be trapped inside at this time."

"You've got to be kidding me!" He yelled as Zelos zipped around again, examining the room quickly with his eyes, though never once looking in the direction of the crack. "What do we do now?"

"Dying would be the easiest option."

"Zelos!"

Surprisingly, the redhead smiled then, and turned to look once again calmly at the brunet. "You're right. We're far too pretty to die. C'mon."

He led the way running to an area of the floor separate from all the seating, and crouched down to the ground. Lloyd held back the many questions flying through his mind, deciding that it would be better to trust that whatever Zelos was doing, it was their best hope for getting out of there alive. Instead Lloyd chose to watch closely the crack in the window, which now covered the majority of that specific pane which was being held together purely by luck, it seemed.

"There," Zelos said, and Lloyd's eyes flew downward to see that he had opened up the floor and found a large lump of silvery fabric which, when held out in front of him, was revealed to be a space suit.

"Oh no..." Lloyd cringed.

"Oh yes." He moved back over one of the wall, still somehow managing to pay no mind at all to the practically shattered glass around them. Presently Zelos unzipped the garment and held it out in invitation for Lloyd to step in.

"There's only one!" Lloyd exclaimed.

Zelos smiled. "Then it's lucky for us that it's extra large." Another loud cracking noise sounded behind them and Zelos locked his cornflower blue eyes with Lloyd's own, "_Trust me_."

Lloyd didn't need any more invitation than that, and stepped into the legs of the thing, an oddly pleasant feeling rippling down his spine as he felt the warmth of Zelos's body slip easily in against his own. It was hard to focus on the task at hand, because of the stress or the millimetres of personal space, and Lloyd had to concentrate as the two men worked together to fit their arms into the right holes, zip up the front, and then finally manoeuvre the helmet piece on. Which, Lloyd noticed, was made of glass. Or something like enough to glass that it made Lloyd more nervous than he already was.

A few awkward movements later, the head piece secured with a click and a hiss, and the ensuing silence felt as though someone had st

uffed cotton in Lloyd's ears. All he heard was Zelos's nervous breathing and his own ears pounding out his heartbeat. Suddenly a voice broke through the silence,

"Lloyd, I-"

At that moment there was a small, nearly inaudible crack as the window finally caved in, and Lloyd and Zelos were instantly pulled off of the ground. They flipped and spun on their way out, and Zelos tightened their linked form into a ball, the effect of which was that the arms and legs of Zelos cradled Lloyds own. He saw very little of the observatory, mostly because it all happened so fast. The blur of chairs, ceilings, and other things ended the same time the whooshing of the air did, and after that, there was nothing.

Zelos released them from their ball, and now they were floating through the emptiness of space. Even through the mind-numbing fear, it was beautiful. He just seemed to be getting closer and closer to the stars today, and now he was among them.

They were still spinning, just really,_really_slowly, and every few seconds they caught a glimpse of the ever-shrinking ship. There was no sound in space, which only seemed to add to the almost creepily terrifying atmosphere as they floated softly away from survival. Another thing to point out was that it was extremely cold, and at that moment Lloyd felt the other person sharing the space suit snuggle closer to him, eliminating the millimetres of space that had once been his alone.

"What are you doing?" Lloyd asked slowly, almost cautiously.

"It's your first lesson on being a lunar colonist," he told him. "We huddle for warmth."

"You do?"

He felt the redhead nod into his shoulder before whispering in his ear, "Mhm._Like penguins_."

A second shiver rippled through Lloyd spine, which of course couldn't go unnoticed by the person wrapped against it. Lloyd closed his eyes.

"Zelos?"

"Mmm?"

"Are we going to die?"

The other was silent for a good long while before he answered, "Would it make you feel better if I said no?"

Lloyd thought about this. "It might."

He felt Zelos' fingers entwine with his own before hearing very softly in his ear, "Everything's gonna be alright, Bud."

It did help some to actually hear him say it out loud. He almost believed it. At that moment their spinning turned them in the direction of the moon. It was huge, and Lloyd had to admit, extremely pretty. He could clearly see the circular patterning of the colonies, at least on the near side. As he watched ships were leaving and returning. He could see the bigger ones as they flew.

"What else do people do in the colonies?" He asked.

Zelos half-smiled. "We do lots of things. Pretty much anything you did on Earth is ten times more fun in zero gravity."

"Like playing tag?"

His smile widened. "And other things."

Something like butterflies appeared in Lloyd's stomach at these words, and he felt inclined to ask, "What are you doing?"

"I'm flirting with you," Zelos replied, the same smile still in place.

At first Lloyd stiffened with pure surprise. Zelos, this incredible, attractive, and entirely out-of-his-league guy had admitted to flirting with him. He was interested in Lloyd. That one took a while to sink in, but once it did, Lloyd melted back into the other man, a slow smile stretching across his face. The facts all laid out in front of him, Lloyd was happy. He knew he liked Zelos, regardless of the fact that they'd just met. But now Zelos liked Lloyd, and that just seemed to change every part of their current situation.

"Is that another thing you Lunies do?" Lloyd asked him playfully.

"Only with the cute guys."

The next half hour or so was pretty much a blur. There really wasn't a lot of room to things in that one space suit, despite the fact that it was extra large. Even so, it was perhaps one of the fondest memories of Lloyd's life. And it was during this time that his anger seemed to dissipate entirely, and he felt a new kind of acceptance and determination, which was followed by excitement, to make this new life work. There was a certain amount of comfort in those short minutes that Lloyd felt he hadn't experienced in a long while. For these reasons, Lloyd was almost sad when their floating turned them to a new direction, this one having a small rescue ship from the Horizon coming down to them from above. This sadness lasted about three seconds before the heart pounding excitement took over.

"Zelos!" The brunet yelled, entirely oblivious to the fact that yelling was quite unnecessary in their current position. "We're not going to die! Look!"

"Haha! See? I told you everything would be alright!" He said, laughing.

They were at the perfect angle to watch as the bottom of the ship opened up and swallowed them into safety. Moments after the door was closed, gravity returned to the small ship, and the two met the ground. Hard. They'd manage to land on their sides (making sure that both of them were equally bruised) so it wasn't until they rolled onto Zelos' back (with Lloyd lying on top), that they got a good look at the room and their rescuers.

The room seemed to be designed for rescue missions just like this one, because everything was securely attached to the walls. The only two beings in the room besides themselves were two helpful medic androids; one a male model, one a female. They were strapped to the wall too, but were released as soon as gravity was restored. Now they approached the boys, helping them up and asking for injuries just as another wall (which was apparently a door) opened to reveal the cockpit, and a good number of actual people stuffed in there. Some of them, Lloyd noticed, were familiar faces...

His father was the first in the room, and Lloyd could honestly say that he'd never seen him look more afraid. His father rarely broke down, and one of the only times Lloyd had seen it was at his mother's funeral. Thinking about what his dad must have gone through brought a twinge of guilt to his stomach. He watched through the helmet the look of relief that enveloped his father at the sight of him, and Lloyd did his best to smile reassuringly while one of the androids unlocked the helmet and lifted it off gently, the other one making sure the two of them didn't fall down in the process.

Lloyd really didn't know any of the other people there besides his dad, and that really didn't help him as he tried to deal with their scrunched up faces when they saw his and Zelos' position. He heard Zelos chuckle lightly behind him as Lloyd's face turned tomato red. It was a very long few seconds as the robots and the two boys did their best in getting the suit off, which as it turned out was a heck of a lot simpler to put on. When it was done, though, and Lloyd and Zelos stepped away from each other, Zelos still smiling to himself and Lloyd having an oddly cold feeling in his back. He had only a few seconds of solitude before Kratos was upon him in an_extremely_un-Kratos-like hug.

"_You're safe..."_He heard his father breathe, more to himself than to Lloyd. But after a moment the awkwardness was bordering on creepy, especially when the old man showed no signs of letting go of him.

"Uh... Dad?" Lloyd asked cautiously, still more than a little creeped out at the unusual fatherly behaviour.

Kratos relinquished his hold on the teen then, and chose instead to hold him by the shoulders, looking him up and down twice before settling on his face.

"Are you alright?" He asked, the stoic Kratos-ness slowly coming back to his features.

"I'm fine," he answered truthfully, then added with a small frown, "Sorry for worrying you..."

Kratos shook his head. "Don't. I'm just glad you're safe."

Lloyd gave his father one last grin before turning around to face Zelos, who was just finishing explaining the situation to all the other people there. Lloyd had assumed this would involve them getting in trouble, but instead Zelos seemed to have gotten the pilots smiling and laughing about the whole experience.

"Uh, Dad," Lloyd continued before he lost his train of thought, "this is Zelos. He saved our lives."

The redhead smiled in Lloyd's direction, and moved to shake hands with Kratos, who was eyeing him in an oddly suspicious way.

"I can't thank you enough," Kratos told the redhead sincerely. "I don't know what I would have done if I'd lost him."

"Oh, it was nothing. Lloyd's a really..." His voice faded when he made eye contact with the brunet, but he quickly turned back to the older man, finishing quickly. "You must be very proud."

"I am," Kratos responded, look of suspicion still present.

After that there was the barrage of questions (most of which were thankfully handled by Zelos) from all members of the rescue party, though things calmed down considerably when both Kratos and Zelos announced that they wouldn't be suing anybody. With all of the commotion happening, it seemed to be no time at all before they were docking into the side of the Horizon. Somehow docking sounded and felt a lot more like crashing; there was a large bang and a sudden jolt like they'd hit something. It made Lloyd want to panic, but everyone else seemed fine. He remembered then that he was the sole person in the small space craft that had never been to space before today. Even Kratos had spent his share of time outside of Earth with business trips and the like, but Lloyd had barely left his home town, let alone the planet. He realized that today had been a day of many firsts, and that it was probably the most exciting and adventurous day he'd had in his entire life. Back on Earth, he'd been so very desperate for a change, and now he had it. Completely and entirely.

He glanced over to Zelos (as he had numerous times already), and found that the redhead was staring back at him. Their eyes locked, and he still didn't feel like the moon was where he belonged, but he knew now with dead certainty that it was where he was meant to be.


End file.
